Systems and methods for generating a zero-waste design pattern and reduction in material waste

ABSTRACT

Systems The present invention discloses systems and methods for generating a zero-waste design pattern and reduction in fabric/material waste including but not limited to garment(s), furniture, shoes and other accessories, wherein the method comprises the steps of: (i) accepting a target design input comprising a first plurality of cut pieces; (ii) rendering a first 3D clothing surface from the first plurality of cut pieces from the target design input; (iii) merging/splitting, optimizing and packing the first plurality of cut pieces iteratively to yield a second plurality of cut pieces; (iv) rendering a second 3D clothing surface from the second plurality of cut pieces; and (v) comparing the first 3D clothing surface and second 3D clothing surface and performing the tasks of merging/splitting, optimizing and packing iteratively when a distortion between the first 3D clothing surface and second 3D clothing surface exceeds a pre-defined threshold value.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to systems and methods forgenerating zero-waste design patterns, wherein the generated designpatterns include but are not limited to garment(s), furniture, shoes andother accessories. The invention particularly relates to a multi-taskoptimization method for achieving zero-waste design patterns andreducing fabric or any material waste during material fabrication.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Fabric is typically the number one or number two largest contributor tothe cost of apparel production. However, 92 million tons of fabric iswasted each year in the fashion industry. The problem is getting worse.By 2030. more than 134 million tons of textiles is projected to bewasted each year. Fabric or material waste begins with design. Forexample, today, the apparel production process starts with the creativedesigner’s vision, usually in the form of abstract 2D illustration. Suchillustrations dictate the aesthetic direction of a garment but do notaccount for sources of fabric or how the fabric/material wouldeventually be cut into the final 3D article.

The creative illustration is then translated into patterns,specifications and tech packs by technical designers, pattern makers ormanufacturers, who determine how the fabric or material can be cut toachieve the original illustrated vision. The patterns, tech pack andspecification sheet are comprised of detailed information regarding agarment design, including the cut pieces, dimensions, care labelinstructions, art-work placement, fabric/material specifications,packing instructions, and other technical information about the productnecessary to quote and assemble a finished product. Because industrynorms dictate that design is predominant, technical designers, patternmakers or manufacturers work to get as close as possible to the originalcreative illustiation, resulting in irregularly shaped cuts thatprioritize the set aesthetic over any material consideration, resultingin fabric or material waste.

A supplement to manual design and pattern placement is to apply anautomated nesting algorithm, which lays out cut pieces in ways thatreduce raw material waste. In apparel, an automated nesting algorithmcan reduce fabric or material waste by providing a placement offabric/material pieces. However, because the fabric/material piecesremain irregular shapes that cannot be changed, they do not fittogether, and the fabric/material saving is limited to only a fewpercentage points. An exemplary automated nesting algorithm realizesonly a 4% fabric saving. Since most apparel and fabric-based furnituredesigns have 10-30% fabric and/or material waste, 4% savings is far fromzero-waste.

Zero-waste or zero fabric/material waste designs are garment designsthat do not leave any scrap fabric or materials behind as waste.Zero-waste can be achieved through strategic cutting, folding, orhanging of the fabric/material. In the apparel space, while variousforms of zero-waste clothing designs do exist today, they have majordrawbacks, including: (i) They end up consuming more fabric/materialthrough unnecessary folds, darts or drapes, removing the material savingthat should be associated with zero-waste designs; (ii) They rely oncomplex/more cuts or patch works. This increases the cutting time and/orsewing time, making the garment more labour intensive (e.g., byincreasing cutting time) during the production process and thereforemore costly; and (iii) They are limited to simple or “boxy” designs likethe sari or kimono.

For instance, the Pat. No: US10588369B2 titled “Textile repurposing andsustainable garment design” discloses a method of upcycling a pluralityof cloth articles to form a garment. In some embodiments, thefabric/material pieces will be positioned inside of one or more patternpieces so as to completely cover each one without overlapping itsborder. The positioned pieces will be treated with an adhesive and thenhave a paper layer adhered to it to hold the positioned fabric/materialpieces in place while they are stitched together. Then, the resultingsandwich will be soaked to remove the paper and dissolve the adhesive.The resulting unified fabric/material component will then be availableto be stitched together with other similarly formed fabric components toform a garment. However, the prior art does not discuss (i) minimizingfabric/material consumption to enable total material savings; and (ii)minimizing garment complexity to reduce cutting time and sewing timeduring production thereby leading to more efficient designs.

Hence, there exists a need for an interactive workflow that generatesdesigns for clothing, shoes, accessories, and other articles thatachieves zero-waste.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art byproviding an interactive workflow that generates designs for clothing,shoes, accessories, furniture, and other articles to achieve zero-waste.The proposed method achieves zero-waste while finding an optimizedbalance among: (i) minimizing fabric or material consumption to enabletotal material savings (calculated as the difference in length of fabricor area of material needed compared to the previous version of the sameor similar style); (ii) minimizing garment complexity to reduce cuttingtime and sewing time during production, which leads to more efficientdesigns; and (iii) closely approximating the look of the originaldesired design.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, methods of andcomputer program products for reduction in fabric/material waste inmaterial and accessory fabrication are provided. A target designcomprising a first plurality of cut pieces is considered. The firstplurality of cut pieces is rendered as a first 3D surface. The firstplurality of cut pieces is iteratively merged/split, optimized, andpacked to yield a second plurality of cut pieces. The second pluralityof cut pieces is rendered as a second 3D surface. The first and second3D surfaces are compared and the said merging/splitting, optimizing, andpacking are repeated when a distortion between the first and second 3Dsurfaces exceeds a predetermined level.

In various embodiments, the present disclosure takes a fabric firstapproach with two inputs: (i) the fabric/material dimensions; and (ii)the desired design style. This method then deconstructs and fits thedesired design within the creative constraints of the fabric/materialdimension. This forces any creative design to take into accountfabric/material use, shapes, cuts, and layout so that thefabric/material pieces fit together without wastage in between. Theresults are puzzle-like fabric/material pieces that fit together ratherthan the traditional asymmetrical/amorphous ones. Although some of theoutput zero-waste cuts may be straighter, the output avoidsboxy/constrained designs by taking advantage of the flow of the softfabric, as well as utilizing both sides of any curved cuts for garmentdesign thereby allowing for familiar apparel silhouettes that lookfitting to the body.

Embodiments of the present disclosure optimize shapes, efficiency, anddesign while enabling zero-waste. This leads to a significantimprovement over alternative methods that traditionally result in 10-30%of fabric/material waste for many garments and upholstery. Garments thatrequire additional fabric orientation or fabric print alignments (e.g.,a cartoon print on the front-center of a dress) can translate to 40%+fabric/material waste. A skilled technical designer or pattern makermaking a pattern that must adhere strictly to an initial designillustration still leaves about 15-20% of the fabric/material as wasteon the cutting room floor. The proposed process in the present inventionis not only limited to obtaining zero-waste design pattern output butalso extends to a significant reduction in fabric/material consumptionby often 25% to 30% or more due to improved design efficiency.

The present invention provides a system for generating a zero-wastedesign pattern and reduction in material waste. The system comprises acomputing node, which further comprises a computer server that iscapable of executing a process for reduction in the fabric/materialwaste in the material fabrication, wherein the computer servercomprises: (i) a system memory which is a computer readable storagemedium configured with multiple program modules for performing amulti-task optimization method for reduction in the fabric/materialwaste in the material fabrication; (ii) multiple processing units, whichare capable of executing the program modules stored in the systemmemory, wherein the processing units sequentially execute the multi-taskoptimization method comprising the steps of a patch merge, a patch shapeoptimization, a strip packing, and a patch split which are performediteratively to improve the packing efficiency of garments; and (iii) anetwork adapter for enabling wired or wireless conmmnication between thecomponents of computer server through a bus.

Further, the present invention provides a method for reduction infabric/material waste in garment, accessory and furniture fabrication,wherein the method comprises the following steps: (i) accepting a targetdesign input comprising a first plurality of cut pieces including butare not limited to pattern, wherein in accordance to an embodiment ofthe invention, the target design input is not limited to cut pieces butalso extends to input from a template library or a two-dimensional (2D)or three-dimensional (3D) design; (ii) rendering a first 3D clothingsurface from the first plurality of cut pieces from the target designinput; (iii) merging/splitting, optimizing and packing the firstplurality of cut pieces including but not limited to pattern,iteratively to yield a second plurality of cut pieces; (iv) rendering asecond 3D clothing surface from the second plurality of cut piecesincluding but are not limited to pattern; and (v) comparing the first 3Dclothing surface and second 3D clothing surface and performing the tasksof merging, optimizing and packing iteratively when a distortion betweenthe first 3D clothing surface and second 3D clothing surface exceeds apre-defined threshold value.

In various embodiments, a traditional design tech pack, pattern or adesign illustration in 2D or 3D is provided as input. A multi-objectiveoptimization on the tech pack, pattern or illustration is performed tofind a local optimal solution that: (i) minimizes material waste andtotal fabric/material consumption based on the fabric/materialdimensions; (ii) minimizes cutting/sewing time; and (iii) maximizes thesimilarity to the original design in 3D. In addition to theoptimization, a user may interact with the resulting output 2D patternor the illustration, applying further aesthetic adjustments. The userinteraction and optimization may continue iteratively until a finalpattern or tech pack is generated.

Embodiments of the present disclosure use an interactive, iterativeprocess that uses the chosen fabric or material as the creativeconstraint, then optimizes the fabric/material piece shapes (throughpatch shape optimization), placements (through packing algorithm) andcuts (through a combination of patch split/merge and shape optimization)for the desired apparel design in order to: (i) eliminate waste; (ii)simplify garment construction; and (iii) preserve desired design.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other features of embodiments will become moreapparent from the following detailed description of embodiments whenread in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings,like reference numerals refer to like elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary jacket fabric cuts from a traditionaljacket design.

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary jacket cuts generated according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates the exemplary jacket of FIG. 2 in assembled form.

FIG. 4 illustrates a multi-task optimization method for reduction infabric/material waste in material fabrication according to embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIGS. 4 a, 4 b, 4 c and 4 d illustrate zero-waste designs acrossdifferent sizes/body shapes for the same style.

FIGS. 4 e, 4 f and 4 g illustrate zero-waste designs across differentfabric widths for the same style.

FIG. 4 h illustrates a zero-waste design achieved with curves.

FIG. 4 i illustrates a zero-waste design which may be achieved bytransposing and resizing the different sections of a given designpattern to obtain another zero-waste design pattern output.

FIG. 5 illustrates a process for reduction in fabric/material waste ingarment(s) fabrication according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary hoodie fabric cuts from a traditionalhoodie design.

FIGS. 7 & 8 illustrate exemplary hoodie cuts generated according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary jacket design.

FIG. 10 a illustrates exemplary jacket cuts generated according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 b illustrates a finished product of the jacket whose designsketch was provided in FIG. 9 .

FIG. 11 illustrates a method of generating a garment(s) design accordingto embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a system for reduction offabric/material waste in a material fabrication.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the description of the presentsubject matter, one or more examples of which are shown in figures. Eachexample is provided to explain the subject matter and not a limitation.Various changes and modifications obvious to one skilled in the art towhich the invention pertains are deemed to be within the spirit, scopeand contemplation of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary jacket fabric cuts. An example is providedof traditional jacket cuts (such as would be included in a pattern). Thecuts include various irregular shapes, which contribute to significantcut time and preclude efficient layout on fabric, contributing to waste.

FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary jacket cuts generated according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. The cuts fit into a rectangularpiece of fabric without any gaps, thereby minimizing both cut time andwaste. Additionally, fitting all pattern pieces into a rectangular pieceof fabric allows for scaled production with zero fabric waste, as eachadditional unit produced can be placed precisely along the edge of theprevious unit.

FIG. 3 illustrates the exemplary jacket of FIG. 2 in assembled form. Theedges still fall to fit around the body, while having zero fabric waste.

FIG. 4 illustrates a multi-task optimization method for reduction infabric/material waste in garment(s) fabrication according to embodimentsof the present disclosure. In particular, a design style is fitefficiently within the dimensions of the fabric/material withzero-waste. Multi-objective optimization is performed using patchsplit/merge, patch shape optimization, and a packing algorithm. Due tothe multiple objectives and given varying business objectives, theresults may be varied by: (i) prioritizing minimal desired designdistortion while eliminating as much fabric/material waste as possiblewithin the fabric/material dimensions; or (ii) prioritizing zero-wastewhile allowing the design to adapt more to fit within thefabric/material dimensions.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the multi-task optimization method (400) forreduction in fabric/material waste comprises the steps of: providing oneor more inputs required for material fabrication to a system (100),wherein the provided inputs include material information (401), cutpieces (402) that are either taken directly from a pattern/tech pack(403) or derived from a 2D/3D design (404) or design concept, and/ormetadata indicating additional characteristics required for the garmentfabrication, wherein metadata includes garment type (e.g., jacket,shirt) or presence of additional features (e.g., pockets). In oneembodiment, materials may include fabrics as well as leather, plastic,or other materials suitable for garment, shoes accessory and furnitureproduction and the material information (401) may include material type,weight, dimensions, description, orientation based on texture directionsor prints, and length of the print. For irregular fabrics (e.g., leatherfrom invasive species made to support ecosystems), a map of thefabric/material area may be included in addition to the dimensions.

A template or a plurality of relevant portions from multiple templatesis retrieved from a template library (405) based on the provided inputs,wherein the template(s) contains a set of default fabric/material piecesthat correlate with the drawings metadata including but not limited to2D/3D sketch, pattern or tech pack. For example, a template for aT-shirt with a breast pocket will include a front and back piece, twosleeve pieces and a pocket piece. In some embodiments, the drawings andthe garment type are provided to a learning system that is pre-trainedto output the dimensions to be applied to each of the template cutpieces in order to achieve the design while ensuring that adjoiningpieces have corresponding dimensions in order to provide a consistentstitching edge. Further, the default fabric/material pieces thatcorrelate with the drawings metadata are scaled to the design sketch(404) subsequent to which a first 3D clothing surface (406) is generatedby rendering an assembled garment on a virtual mannequin using thematerial information (401) and the cut pieces (402) including but arenot limited to pattern, wherein the first 3D clothing surface (406)provides a perceptual constraint on the pattern optimization.

Subsequently, the first 3D clothing surface (406) and a second 3Dclothing surface stemming from the original pattern are compared at eachiteration of the optimization process till the distortion between thefirst 3D clothing surface (406) and the second 3D clothing surface isreduced to a minimum threshold value. In some embodiments, thedistortion is measured as the chamfer distance between these twosurfaces. All pairs of neighboring patches on the first 3D clothingsurface (406) are checked, wherein a patch merge (407) for a pair ofpatches is performed if the curvature across the sewing edge is lessthan a predetermined threshold; and the merged edges are small enough tofit within the dimensions of the source fabric. The patch merging of thefirst 3D clothing surface (406) reduces the number of patches leading tofewer cuts and seams, thereby resulting in improved efficiency duringgarment manufacturing. To merge patches, the starting point and theending point of edges are aligned. The two corresponding edges arediscarded, to form a single patch. In some embodiments, all thecurvatures of seams are sorted in ascending order, and the merge processproceeds from the flattest pair of pieces and proceeds towards the morecurved.

Subsequent to patch merge (407), a patch shape optimization (408) isperformed over the 2D fabric/material patch pieces, wherein theobjective is to make the shape of each piece more regularized sofabric/material cutting is more efficient, and the pieces more easilyfit with each other to minimize fabric/material waste. Each patch isrepresented as a set of pre-defined shapes (including straight lines orcurves) such as but not limited to polygons assembled to reflect thecurvature of the patch according to the first 3D clothing surface (406).Further, the curved segments of each patch are identified by splittingthe patch along the pre-defined shape such as but not limited to polygonboundaries that have a sharp connection, wherein for each adjacent pairof curved segments, the boundary edge is down sampled by graduallyreducing the number of vertices along the boundary. Down sampling theboundary edge of the curved segments is halted if the distortion of thefirst 3D clothing surface (406) reaches a pre-defined threshold value.

Subsequently, 2D strip packing (409) is performed for the optimizedpatch shape, wherein a minimum bounding box is computed for each pieceafter packing, following which the ratio of empty area for each boundingbox is computed and the patches whose ratio exceeds a predeterminedthreshold value are selected, wherein patch splitting (410) is performedfor the selected patches which are divided into smaller patches toachieve maximum space optimization. In some embodiments, a selectedpatch is split by cutting at each concave edge in order to eliminate theconcavity and ensure that all the split pieces are convex. In variousembodiments, a cuckoo search algorithm with pairwise clustering isapplied for the task of strip packing (409). However, it will beappreciated that a variety of alternative algorithms may be employed,such as but not limited to a bottom-up left-justified algorithm;next-fit decreasing-height algorithm; Sleator’s algorithm; reverse-fitalgorithm; or Steinberg’s algorithm. As a consequence of stepspertaining to patch merge (407), patch shape optimization (408), strippacking (409) and patch splitting (410), a design pattern output isgenerated in step (411).

Further, an additional garment (412) is incrementally increasedsubsequent to the patch splitting (410) until a zero or minimal wasteconfiguration is obtained. The process of patch merge (407), patch shapeoptimization (408), strip packing (409) and patch splitting (410) isperformed repeatedly until a zero or minimal waste permutation isdetermined with minimum fabric/material consumption, minimum cuts, andmaximum 3D surface similarity compared to the second 3D clothing surfacestemming from the original pattern. In some embodiments, the process ofpatch merge (407), patch shape optimization (408), strip packing (409)and patch splitting (410) may be repeated with a plurality of garmentsin order to optimize production of a set of garments together. Forexample, if a zero fabric/material waste design cannot be generated fora single garment (e.g., a T-Shirt), steps (407) to (410) may be repeatedfor two identical garments (or other articles) to be cut from the samecloth. In such embodiments, the cuts between garments are not subject topatch merging in step 407. It will be appreciated that the process asdescribed in FIG. 4 prioritizes minimal design distortion whileeliminating as much fabric/material waste as possible within thefabric/material dimensions. In additional embodiments, zero-waste isprioritized while allowing the design to adapt more to fit within thefabric/material dimensions.

In an alternative embodiment, when the initial 2D sewing pattern is in acompact form, a pattern adjustment technique is applied directly to thecompact template to preserve the zero fabric/material waste property. Toperform the pattern adjustment technique, handles over the patterntemplate (usually the corner of the cutting pieces) are annotated.During the pattern adjustment, any free movement of the corners in thedesign plan is allowed while subject to no self-intersection. Thelocation of the corners is optimized so that the design parameters fromthe input sketch are best reflected in the dimensions from the 2Dtemplate. To preserve the feasibility of the manufactured design output,constraints on the dimensions are applied to regularize the design,wherein the constraints are represented as a set of linear in-equationsof the corner locations.

FIGS. 4 a, 4 b, 4 c and 4 d illustrate zero-waste designs acrossdifferent sizes/body shapes for the same style. For example, consider along sleeve dress in a zero-waste design which is adjusted across sizessmall (illustrated by FIGS. 4 a and 4 b ), medium (illustrated by FIG. 4c ) and large (illustrated by FIG. 4 d ). The pattern adjustmenttechnique allows the zero fabric/material waste design to be scaledacross different body or clothing measurements (e.g. chestcircumference, top length of clothing) or shapes while maintaining zerofabric/material waste configuration contrary to the vast majority ofready to wear clothing designs, which are available in multiple standardsizes without the ability to be sized to specific measurements/shapes.

FIGS. 4 e, 4 f and 4 g illustrate zero-waste designs across differentfabric widths for the same style. Since brands and designers work with aplurality of suppliers, they often face the challenge of variable fabricwidth despite using the same material. Even within the same fabricsupplier, there are often 0.5 in-2 in variations in widths or usablewidths from one piece of fabric to another thereby resulting in fabricwastage. The pattern adjustment technique provided in the alternativeembodiment of the present invention allows a given zero-waste design tobe scaled across different fabric widths or material dimensions. Forexample, consider a zero fabric waste hoodie design which is adjusted tomaintain zero fabric waste across three different fabric widths such asa width of 61 inches (illustrated by FIG. 4 e ), 64 inches (illustratedby FIG. 4 f ) and 70.5 inches (illustrated by FIG. 4 g ). The patternadjustment technique allows the zero fabric waste design to be scaledacross different fabric widths thereby enabling scalability across rollsof fabric with the same widths.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a zero-waste design maybe achieved with curves as illustrated in FIG. 4 h . The multi-taskoptimization method disclosed in the present invention may be applied tocurves which are treated as a combination of straight lines. The presentembodiment is highly applicable for the purposes of tailoring andfitting.

FIG. 4 i illustrates a zero fabric waste design which may be achieved bytransposing and re-sizing the different sections of a given designpattern to obtain another design pattern output which may be of adifferent size and pattern. In one example, a jacket with dimensions (ininches) 60*48 is considered. Using the multi-task optimization methoddisclosed in the present invention, particular sections such as the cuffof the given jacket can be transposed, rearranged or re-sizedstrategically at different sections to increase the size of the jacketfrom 60*48 inches to 60*51 inches. This allows for the same zero-wastedesign style for different body or clothing measurements.

FIG. 5 illustrates a process for reduction in fabric/material waste inmaterial fabrication according to embodiments of the present disclosure.To reduce the computation complexity of the patch optimization and 2Dstrip packing in the waste reduction first approach, existing zero-wastedesigns are used as templates. A parametric model is established todeform the template design to best approximate the target design whilekeeping the fabric/material waste to zero during such operation. Theprocess (500) comprises the steps of providing an information pertainingto multiple cut pieces (501) and a material information (502) to thesystem (100) and categorizing a target article into a plurality ofpre-defined styles such as but not limited to shirt, pants, jackets andthe like. Further, a zero-waste design template (503) is obtained fromthe template library (504), wherein the zero-waste design template (503)is not limited to a single template but also includes a plurality ofrelevant portions from multiple templates which may be selected based onthe pre-defined style of the target article.

As described in FIG. 4 , a 3D clothing surface (505) and a template 3Dclothing surface (506) are generated, wherein the 3D clothing surface(505) is generated by rendering an assembled garment on a virtualmannequin. Subsequently, the zero-waste design template (503) isre-scaled based on the generated 3D clothing surface (505) and template3D clothing surface (506) to enable precise alignment of the generated3D clothing surface (505) and template 3D clothing surface (506). Inparticular, a scale factor may be assigned to each edge (seam) of thepieces in the zero-waste design template (503), wherein the scale factorfor each edge (seam) in the zero-waste design template (503) is providedas the ratio between each 3D curve on the template 3D clothing surface(506) and the generated 3D clothing surface (505). Each edge (seam) inthe zero-waste design template (503) has a corresponding 3D curve in thecorresponding template 3D clothing surface (506). The 3D clothingsurface (505) and template 3D clothing surface (506) are aligned witheach other, for example by a 3D registration such as an iterativeclosest point algorithm as per one embodiment of the present invention.

Subsequently, the closest point in the generated 3D clothing surface(505) is retrieved by sampling points along the 3D curve of thezero-waste design template (503). Further, the range of displacement(508) between the generated 3D clothing surface (505) and template 3Dclothing surface (506) is minimized, wherein the minimization of therange of displacement may be achieved using a local greedy searchalgorithm as per one embodiment of the present invention. In someembodiments, the mapping from the displacement of a certain cut to thelength change for all the edges in the tech pack or pattern may bedetermined via training a shallow neural network. In some embodiments,the neural network takes cut displacement in 3D as input and providesthe edge length for each piece in the corresponding tech pack or patternas output. In some embodiments, the displacement is randomly sampled,and the edge length is calculated to generate training data.

Further, the average edge length between the zero-waste design template(503) and the target article is minimized using a closed formoptimization (509), wherein the closed form optimization for minimizingthe average edge length between the zero-waste design template (503) andthe target article preserves the design space in the zero-waste domain,thereby guaranteeing a zero fabric/material waste output. In oneembodiment, a trust region algorithm is used for minimizing the averageedge length between the zero-waste design template (503) and the targetarticle using a closed form optimization (509). As with method (400), insome embodiments, this process (500) may be repeated with a plurality ofgarments to optimize production of a set of garments together.

Example 1 indicates a zero-fabric waste hoodie using leftover organiccotton and ribbing fabric, for fabrics having specific orientation. Thisexample demonstrates the uniqueness of the fabric/material-firstzero-waste design method. In particular, the methods described abovewith regard to FIG. 4 results in a zero-fabric waste hoodie that uses25% less in fabric consumption, is simpler in construction thantraditional hoodies, and is not basic in silhouette (i.e., not a sari orflowy kimono).

The inputs to zero-waste method (400) included fabric information anddesign information. The fabric information included organic cottonfabric 70.5 in in width, with lines running perpendicular to the widthof the fabric. Also ribbing fabric 45 in in width used for cuffs andbottoms of the hoodie, with more pronounced lines running perpendicularto the width of the fabric. Design information included the hoodie styleincluding design sketch and hoodie tech pack.

Fabric information was provided according to step (401). Target hoodiecut pieces as illustrated in FIG. 6 , were provided according to step(402). Referring to FIG. 6 , the key pieces will be apparent, includingfront and back body pieces, sleeve pieces, hood pieces and a pocketpiece. Waste is depicted by the filled area between pieces. A 3D surfaceis generated according to step (406). In this example, a S/M size wasinitially considered, with initial measurement variation allowancesassigned for each piece based on the desired 3D clothing surface. Thoughstandard sizes are considered in this example, the disclosure of thepresent invention provides the flexibility to customize the garments,shoes, accessories, etc. to measurement and sizes as required by theend-user. In this example, the body length and pocket length allow forthe most variation, the sleeves allow for the least. The 3D clothingsurface also reveals dependencies across the pieces. The front and backbody pieces are attached to the ribbing piece, the sleeves are attachedto ribbing cuff pieces. This creates groupings that give combinedmeasurement variation allowances that supersede the variation allowancesof each specific piece. In this way, growth or expansion of the garmentbeyond sizing constraints is avoided in later steps. In this example, itwas determined in step (407) that no patch merge was possible.

Patch shape optimization was performed according to step (408). Thefront and back body panels are turned into rectangles that span over theshoulders and extend up and down to the hips. The dimensions of thefront and back body panels are 26 in across × 28 in up and down for S/M.(26 in × 31 in for L/XL). Packing is performed according to step (409).For the front and back body pieces, placement must be orientedperpendicular to the width of the organic cotton fabric so the fabriclines can run vertically up and down the body. This is in accordancewith industry standards. Placement also aligns with a fabric edge,maximizing the remaining spaces to fit the sleeves of the hoodie-thelongest remaining pieces-within the width of the fabric. For packing theremaining pieces (sleeves, hood pieces, pocket), the wider hood pieceswould be most efficient when placed under the wider body pieces, and thesleeves would be most efficient when used to fill the remainder of thefabric width.

Split/merge is performed according to steps (410), (407), and iterativeshape optimization is performed according to step (408). The sleeves aresplit so that they are optimized into right trapezoids. Shapeoptimization also turns the hood shapes into right trapezoids in orderto fit the hood and longer sleeves while taking up less fabric length(i.e., reducing fabric consumption). Packing is reapplied according tostep (409), which places the pocket in the remaining slot on the bottomright. The iterative approach was continued to ensure a minimum ofcuts/complex cuts and a minimum of fabric consumption while maintainingzero-waste with maximum adherence to the target design.

In this example, the resulting design was compared to the target designto ensure a similar silhouette. To accomplish this, the silhouettes inthe 3D surface rendering are compared. In this example, it was revealedthat the hood was sharp, so the hood design was further iterated to adda seam to ensure a curved back of the hood. On further comparison, itwas revealed that the total sleeve and cuff length was too short. If thesleeve length were increased, it would force the pocket height outsideof the allowed measurement parameters. The cuff height was insteadincreased.

FIGS. 7 & 8 illustrate exemplary hoodie cuts generated according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 7 , theresulting fabric cuts are shown. This design uses 1.22 yards, 25% lessthan the input design. In addition to the main components of thegarment, the cuffs and bottom body hems were optimized to use ribbingfabric that is 45in in width. There are two wrist cuff pieces and onelong body hem piece for each hoodie. The first iteration determined thatthis is impossible to be done with zero fabric waste as the body piecetakes up too much of the width to make room for the two cuffs, the cuffsare wider than the body piece, and therefore the resulting rectanglescannot fit inside a piece of rectangularly cut fabric without waste.Accordingly, in this example, multiple units of body hems and cuffs werecombined to be made at once to increase fabric use efficiency. Theresulting cuts in FIG. 8 illustrate the final placements of zero-wastehoodie ribbing fabric. For additional sizes of the garment (L/XL size),the process was repeated with new variation allowances with new upperand lower bounds.

Example 2: In this example, the zero-waste first method (500) of FIG. 5was employed. The target jacket is illustrated in FIG. 9 . This designuses roll end leftover denim, which are narrow rectangular denim fabricpieces that remain at the end of fabric rolls. Usually, this roll endmaterial is discarded as it is too small for another production run butis used here as the area constraint to construct an original zero-wastedesign. The design sketch (provided in FIG. 9 ) was provided accordingto step (404). The jacket style was deconstructed into fabric piecesbased on the traditional jacket style category to obtain cut pieces(501), including the front and back body pieces, collars, back support,sleeves, cuffs, back text piece, and pockets. Material information wasprovided according to step (502), which in this case is roll end denimpieces, which are 60 in × 17-18 in narrow rectangles. A reference zerofabric waste jacket template or a plurality of relevant portions frommultiple templates were pulled from the template library (504). 3Dclothing surfaces (505) & (506) were constructed for both jacketversions, with initial measurement variation allowances for each piece.Based on template library (504), the body length/width and pocket lengthallow for the most variation, the sleeve widths and collars allow forthe least. The sleeves are attached to cuff pieces. This createsgroupings that give combined measurement variation allowances thatsupersede the variation allowances of each specific piece.

Shape optimization is used to simplify the front body panels into twohexagons (or a combination of two trapezoids) that span over theshoulders and extend up and down to the waist. The process of shapeoptimization is repeatedly performed with the application of patch splitor patch merge thereby transforming the collar and neck back supportpieces into triangles. Further packing is performed for the frontpanels, wherein due to the narrowness of the denim fabric, the panelscan only fit side by side along the width of the denim fabric. Theleftover areas can pack optimized triangular shapes for the collar andneck back support. The back panels are similar to the front panels butwith a smaller lower bond for width and without the front opening. Inpacking, this translates to mirroring of the previous structure on asecond piece of denim fabric, but with remaining fabric for the collarand back text piece. It must be duly noted that the back text piece isshorter than the remaining fabric, due to which the process isreadjusted to fit two back text piece on each of the denim fabric.

The final denim piece is used to pack the remaining pieces, which aremostly sleeves. The sleeves are packed along the corner edges to allowfor enough remaining width to fit the cuffs and pocket pieces. Shapeoptimization is re-applied to turn cuff and pocket pieces intorectangles that fit into the remaining fabric. It is determined thatpocket pieces can have the most variation in dimensions and aretherefore packed at the end to take up the remaining fabric. Placements,shapes, and potential piece merges are iterated to ensure minimum cutswith maximum fabric use efficiency. The look of the resulting design iscompared to the target design to ensure a similar silhouette as thedesired jacket style. Iterate further until style aligns well with thedesired jacket.

FIG. 10 a illustrates exemplary jacket cuts generated according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 10 b illustrates a finishedproduct of the jacket whose design sketch was provided in FIG. 9 .

Example 3 indicates a zero-material waste shoe design using multiplefabrics and material pieces. In this example, the same fabric firstprinciple applies as in the above garment examples. The differentfabrics and material pieces required for each shoe are mapped, and thenthe fabric/material shapes and placements are optimized using shapeoptimization, split/merge, and packing. Shoe productions are often donein batches, allowing for additional zero-waste opportunities for packingmultiple shoe pieces together within a piece of fabric/material. It willbe appreciated that the same process can be applied to furniture orother interior objects like car seats made with materials includingfabrics, wood, and/or foam as well, for example yielding zero-wastesofas, or zero fabric/zero leather waste car seat.

Example 4 indicates a zero-material waste apparel using multiplefabrics. The fabric first methods provided herein can be applied toapparel using multiple fabrics. To accommodate multiple fabrics, theparts required for each fabric are mapped, and then the design isiterated within each fabric to ensure zero-waste across materials.

Example 5 indicates a zero-material waste apparel with specific printalignments. Oftentimes, garment fabrics have specific prints that mustbe placed in certain parts of the garment (e.g., a flower print on thefront of a dress). This can be achieved through the fabric/materialfirst methods described herein by first locking the placement (but notthe shape) of specific fabric piece(s), then optimizing shape, packingand splitting/merging the remaining fabric pieces around that firstpiece.

Example 6 indicates multiple zero material waste designs done at once.The methods provided herein can be applied to design multiple styles atonce (e.g., a bag and a shirt are designed collectively so thattogether, they use fabric without waste in between). This isparticularly relevant when the styles are made at the same manufacturingfacility from the same rolls of fabrics or from the same materialsources. In this case, all styles are deconstructed into patch pieces,split/possible merge within one style, patch shape optimization, andpacking are performed to all patches collectively.

In addition to the examples above, it will be appreciated that severalvariations are available. In various embodiments, the end design doesnot take up the entire fabric width. For example, the design may beconfigured to take up a fraction of the fabric width (e.g., ½ of fabricwidth), so that multiple zero fabric waste designs or parts can fitacross the width of the fabric each time (e.g., in this example two). Invarious embodiments, the inputs include patterns, tech packs, any 2Dsketches, and/or 3D art. Across all these inputs, different patch piecesare separated out to perform further optimization. It will beappreciated that while the above examples focus on garments, the methodsprovided herein are applicable to various soft goods, including but notlimited to apparel, bags, accessories, furniture and shoes. Thesemethods may also be applied to zero material waste designs of anyproducts consisting of hard material.

Various embodiments provided herein use a learning system, or machinelearning model. In some such embodiments, a feature vector is providedto a learning system. Based on the input features, the learning systemgenerates one or more outputs. In some embodiments, the output of thelearning system is a feature vector. In some embodiments, the learningsystem is pre-trained using training data. In some embodiments, trainingdata is retrospective data. In some embodiments, the retrospective datais stored in a data store. In some embodiments, the learning system maybe additionally trained through manual curation of previously generatedoutputs.

In some embodiments, the learning system comprises an SVM. In otherembodiments, the learning system comprises an artificial neural network.In some embodiments, the learning system is a trained classifier. Insome embodiments, the trained classifier is a random decision forest.However, it will be appreciated that a variety of other classifiers aresuitable for use according to the present disclosure, including linearclassifiers, support vector machines (SVM), or neural networks such asrecurrent neural networks (RNN). Suitable artificial neural networksinclude but are not limited to a feedforward neural network, a radialbasis function network, a self-organizing map, learning vectorquantization, a recurrent neural network, a Hopfield network, aBoltzmann machine, an echo state network, long short term memory, abi-directional recurrent neural network, a hierarchical recurrent neuralnetwork, a stochastic neural network, a modular neural network, anassociative neural network, a deep neural network, a deep beliefnetwork, a convolutional neural networks, a convolutional deep beliefnetwork, a large memory storage and retrieval neural network, a deepBoltzmann machine, a deep stacking network, a tensor deep stackingnetwork, a spike and slab restricted Boltzmann machine, a compoundhierarchical-deep model, a deep coding network, a multilayer kernelmachine, or a deep Q-network.

FIG. 11 illustrates a method of generating a zero-waste design patternaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein the method(1100) comprises the steps of accepting inputs which may befabric/material dimensions or a target design comprising a firstplurality of cut pieces including but are not limited to pattern in step(1101). In an embodiment of the invention, the target design input isnot limited to cut pieces but also extends to input from a templatelibrary or a 2D or 3D design. Subsequently a first 3D clothing surfaceis rendered from the first plurality of cut pieces from the targetdesign input in step (1102). Step (1103) includes merging/splitting,optimizing and packing the first plurality of cut pieces including butare not limited to pattern, iteratively to yield a second plurality ofcut pieces including but are not limited to pattern. In step (1104), azero-waste design output is obtained as a consequence of step (1103) inwhich the steps of merging/splitting, optimizing and packing the firstplurality of cut pieces was performed. Further, a second 3D clothingsurface is rendered from the second plurality of cut pieces in step(1105). In step (1106), the first 3D clothing surface and second 3Dclothing surface are compared, and the tasks of merging/splitting,optimizing and packing are performed iteratively when a distortionbetween the first 3D clothing surface and second 3D clothing surfaceexceeds a pre-defined threshold value.

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a system for reduction offabric/material waste in a material fabrication, wherein the system(100) comprises a computing node (10) which comprises a computer server(12) that is capable of executing a process for reduction in thefabric/material waste in material fabrication. The computer server (12)comprises: (i) a system memory (28) which is a computer readable storagemedium configured with one or more program modules (42) for performing amulti-task optimization method for reduction in the fabric/materialwaste in the material fabrication, wherein the system memory (28)includes computer readable media in the form of removable memory,non-removable memory, volatile memory and non-volatile memory; (ii) oneor more processing units (16), which is capable of executing the programmodules (42) stored in the system memory (28), wherein the processingunits (16) sequentially executes the multi-task optimization methodcomprising the steps of a patch merge, a patch shape optimization, astrip packing, and a patch split which are performed iteratively toimprove the packing efficiency of garments; and (iii) a network adapter(20) for enabling a wired or wireless communication between thecomponents of computer server (12) through a bus (18), wherein thecomputer server (12) communicates with one or more external devices (14)through Input/Output (I/O) interfaces (22). Bus (18) represents one ormore of any of several types of bus structures, including a memory busor memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port,and a processor or local bus using any of a variety of busarchitectures. By way of example, and not limitation, such architecturesinclude Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video ElectronicsStandards Association (VESA) local bus. Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus, Peripheral Component Interconnect Express(PCIe), and Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA).

The computing node (10) is only one example of a suitable computing nodeand is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use orfunctionality of embodiments described herein. Regardless, the computingnode (10) is capable of being implemented and/or performing any of thefunctionality set forth hereinabove. Examples of well-known computingsystems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable foruse with computer server (12) include, but are not limited to, personalcomputer systems, server computer systems, thin clients, thick clients,handheld or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-basedsystems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,minicomputer systems, mainframe computer systems, and distributed cloudcomputing environments that include any of the above systems or devices,and the like.

The computer server (12) may be described in the general context ofcomputer system-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. The computer server (12) may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices. The computer server (12) typically includes a varietyof computer system readable media. Such media may be any available mediathat is accessible by the computer server (12), and it includes bothvolatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

The computer server (12) may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system (34) can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus (18) by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below, thesystem memory (28) may include at least one program product having a set(e.g., at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry outthe functions of embodiments of the disclosure.

The system memory (28) can include computer system readable media in theform of volatile memory, such as Random Access Memory (RAM) (30) and/orcache memory (32). A program/utility (40), having a set (at least one)of program modules (42), may be stored in the system memory (28) by wayof example, and not limitation, as well as an operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data. Eachof the operating systems, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data or some combination thereof, mayinclude an implementation of a networking enviromnent. The programmodules (42) generally carry out the functions and/or methodologies ofembodiments as described herein.

The computer server (12) may also communicate with multiple externaldevices (14) such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display (24),etc., a plurality of devices that enable a user to interact with thecomputer server (12); and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem,etc.) that enable computer server (12) to communicate with one or moreother computing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output(I/O) interfaces (22). Still yet, computer server (12) can communicatewith one or more networks such as a local area network (LAN), a generalwide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet)via network adapter (20). It should be understood that, although notshown, other hardware and/or software components could be used inconjunction with computer server (12). Examples, include, but are notlimited to microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units,external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archivalstorage systems and so on.

The present disclosure may be embodied as a system, a method, and/or acomputer program product. The computer program product may include acomputer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readableprogram instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry outaspects of the present disclosure. The computer readable storage mediumcan be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for useby an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage mediummay be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, anelectromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of morespecific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes thefollowing: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random accessmemory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory(SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digitalversatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanicallyencoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groovehaving instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination ofthe foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, isnot to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radiowaves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagneticwaves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g.,light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signalstransmitted through a wire.

The computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

The computer readable program instructions for carrying out operationsof the present disclosure may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user’scomputer, partly on the user’s computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user’s computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user’s computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present disclosure.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions. These computer readable programinstructions may be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be storedin a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, aprogrammable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to functionin a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage mediumhaving instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufactureincluding instructions which implement aspects of the function/actspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present disclosurehave been presented for purposes of illustration but are not intended tobe exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

We claim:
 1. A multi-task optimization method for generating azero-waste design pattern and reduction in fabric/material waste,wherein the method (400) comprises the steps of a) providing one or moreinputs required for material fabrication to a system (100), wherein theprovided inputs include material information (401), cut pieces (402)that are either taken directly from a pattern or tech pack (403) orderived from a design sketch (404), and/or metadata indicatingadditional characteristics required for the material fabrication; b)retrieving a template or a combination of template parts from a templatelibrary (405) based on the provided inputs, wherein the template(s)contains a set of default fabric/material pieces that correlate with thedrawings metadata; c) scaling the default fabric/material pieces thatcorrelate with the drawings metadata to the design sketch (404); d)generating a first 3D clothing surface (406) by rendering an assembledgarment on a virtual mannequin using the material information (401) andthe cut pieces (402), wherein the first 3D clothing surface (406y)provides a perceptual constraint on the pattern optimization; e)comparing at each iteration of the optimization process, the first 3Dclothing surface (406) with a second 3D clothing surface stemming fromthe original pattern or 2D/3D sketch until the distortion between thefirst 3D clothing surface (406) and the second 3D clothing surface isreduced to a minimum threshold value; f) checking the pairs ofneighboring patches on the first 3D clothing surface (406), whereinpatch merge (407) for a pair of patches is performed if: a. thecurvature across the sewing edge is less than a predetermined threshold;and b. the merged edges are small enough to fit within the dimensions ofthe source fabric/material; g) performing patch shape optimization (408)over the 2D fabric/material patch pieces, wherein each patch isrepresented as a set of pre-defined shapes assembled to reflect thecurvature of the patch according to the first 3D clothing surface (406);h) identifying the curved segments of each patch by splitting the patchalong boundaries of the pre-defined shape that has a sharp connection,wherein for each adjacent pair of curved segments, the boundary edge isdown sampled by gradually reducing the number of vertices along theboundary; i) performing 2D strip packing (409) for the optimized patchshape, wherein a minimum bounding box is computed for each piece afterpacking; and j) computing the ratio of empty area for each bounding boxand selecting the patches whose ratio exceeds a predetermined thresholdvalue, wherein patch splitting (410) is performed for the selectedpatches which are divided into smaller patches to achieve maximum spaceoptimization.
 2. The method (400) as claimed in claim 1, wherein thematerial information (401) includes material type, weight, dimensions,description, orientation based on texture directions or prints, andlength of the print.
 3. The method (400) as claimed in claim 1, whereinpatch merging of the first 3D clothing surface (406) reduces the numberof patches leading to fewer cuts and seams, thereby resulting inimproved efficiency during garment manufacturing.
 4. The method (400) asclaimed in claim 1, wherein down sampling the boundary edge of thecurved segments is halted if the distortion of the first 3D clothingsurface (406) reaches a pre-defined threshold value.
 5. The method (400)as claimed in claim 1, wherein the patch merge (407), the patch shapeoptimization (408), the strip packing (409) and the patch splitting(410) is performed repeatedly until a zero-waster permutation isdetermined thereby resulting in minimum fabric/material consumption,minimum cuts, and maximum 3D surface similarity compared to the second3D clothing surface stemming from the original pattern.
 6. The method(400) as claimed in claim 1, wherein an additional garment (y) isincrementally increased subsequent to the patch splittingy) until azero-waste configuration is obtained.
 7. The mey) as claimed in claim 1,wherein a procey) for reduction in fabric/material waste whileprioritizing waste reduction over design preservation comprises thesteps of: a. providing an information pertaining to one or more cutpieces (501), 2D/3D design concept and a material information (502) tothe system (100) and categorizing a target article into one or morepre-defined styles; b. obtaining a zero-waste design template(s) (503)from the template library (504), wherein the zero-waste design template(503) is either selected based on the pre-defined style of the targetarticle or directly from the design sketch and material information; c.generating a 3D clothing surface (505) and a template 3D clothingsurface (506), wherein the 3D clothing surface (505) is generated byrendering an assembled garment on a virtual mannequin; d. rescaling thezero-waste design template (503) based on the generated 3D clothingsurface (505) and template 3D clothing surface (506) to enable precisealignment of the generated 3D clothing surface (505) and template 3Dclothing surface (506); e. sampling points along the 3D curve of thezero-waste design template (503) to retrieve the closest point in thegenerated 3D clothing surface (505); f. minimizing the range ofdisplacement (508) between the generated 3D clothing surface (505) andtemplate 3D clothing surface (506); g. minimizing the average edgelength between the zero-waste design template (503) and the targetarticle using a closed form optimization (509); and h. repeating theprocess (500) with a plurality of garments to optimize production of aset of garments together.
 8. The method (400) as claimed in claim 1,wherein the scale factor for each edge in the zero-waste design template(503) is provided as the ratio between each 3D curve on the template 3Dclothing surface (506) and the generated 3D clothing surface (505). 9.The method (400) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the range ofdisplacement between the generated 3D clothing surface (505) andtemplate 3D clothing surface (506) is minimized using a local greedysearch algorithm.
 10. The method (400) as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe closed form optimization for minimizing the average edge lengthbetween the zero-waste design template (503) and the target articlepreserves the design space in the zero-waste domain, therebyguaranteeing a zero-waste output.
 11. The method (400) as claimed inclaim 1, wherein a method (1100) for generating a zero-waste designpattern and reduction in fabric/material waste comprise the steps of: a.accepting a target design input comprising a first plurality of cutpieces; b. rendering a first 3D clothing surface from the firstplurality of cut pieces from the target design input; c.merging/splitting, optimizing and packing the first plurality of cutpieces iteratively to yield a second plurality of cut pieces; d.obtaining a zero-waste design pattern output; e. rendering a second 3Dclothing surface from the second plurality of cut pieces; and f.comparing the first 3D clothing surface and second 3D clothing surfaceand performing the tasks of merging/splitting, optimizing and packingiteratively when a distortion between the first 3D clothing surface andsecond 3D clothing surface exceeds a pre-defined threshold value.
 12. Asystem for reduction in fabric/material waste in material fabrication,the system (100) comprising; a. a computing node (10) which comprises acomputer server (12) that is capable of executing a process forreduction in the fabric/material waste in material fabrication, whereinthe computer server (12) comprises: i. a system memory (28) which is acomputer readable storage medium configured with one or more programmodules (42) for performing a multi-task optimization method forreduction in the fabric/material waste in material fabrication; ii. oneor more processing units (16), which is capable of executing the programmodules (42) stored in the system memory (28), wherein the processingunits (16) sequentially executes the multi-task optimization methodcomprising the steps of a patch merge, a patch shape optimization, astrip packing, and a patch split which are performed iteratively toimprove the packing efficiency of garments; and iii. a network adapter(20) for enabling a wired or wireless communication between thecomponents of computer server (12) through a bus (18).
 13. The system(100) as claimed in claim 12, wherein the computer server (12)communicates with one or more external devices (14) through Input/Output(I/O) interfaces (22).